The Daytona 500 and other sporting events grab students’ attention and engagement. Use events that students are already excited about to make real-world connections while teaching key curricular concepts they need to know.
We’ve got a collection of activities that turn student excitement into hands-on learning across STEM, math, history, and Spanish, with ready-to-use Formative Daytona 500 activities you can assign in minutes.
Jump to:
Key takeaways:
Students love activities that let them move, test, measure, and compete. Formative’s “Daytona 500 STEM Pit Crew Challenge” allows them to do all of that and more.
Students will investigate race-inspired experiments and analyze their recorded values right inside Formative. They’ll explore aerodynamics, centripetal force, lap-time optimization, and pit-stop strategy to see how race-day physics works.
Racing fans know that each track has its own personality and that the geography of the area can shape the race. Assign the “NASCAR Race Tracks Practice Set” to give students an entry point for identifying U.S. cities and regions.
Students can practice with cards that include a track name and location in one of four practice modes:
When students see formulas like distance = rate * time connected to authentic race scenarios, it can make the concepts click more easily. Formative’s “Revving Up Math” activity invites students to work through real-life racing examples that involve speed, time, measurement, and unit conversion.
This activity can build math fluency and confidence, while adding purpose and excitement to math practice.
Students may know that the Dayton 500 exists, but may not understand why it’s such a big deal in sports. Our “History of the Daytona 500” activity can help them explore the race’s origin, key milestones, legendary drivers, and more.
This activity is a fun cross-curricular tile for history, literacy, and media skills in the classroom. Try it as a warmup, small group work, or independent practice.
Sports are an easy way to make vocabulary stick. Formative’s “NASCAR Español: Start Your Engines!” activity gives Spanish learners a fun, fast-paced way to practice new words related to topics they care about.
Students can explore common racing terms and phrases through instant checks for understanding. Provide immediate real-time feedback to help them practice and understand their new vocabulary words.
The Formative Library has a collection of free, ready-to-use activities created by our curriculum experts and real teachers like you. Use them as-is or customize them to fit your classroom.
Want something totally unique? Build your own activities from scratch inside Formative. Add images, videos, audio, or enhanced PDFs to create a learning experience tailored to your students and their needs.
Don’t have a Formative account yet? Sign up for Formative for free to start using and creating Daytona 500 activities today!
